The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) is alarmed at the apparent defiance by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to go ahead with the Cargo Tracking Notes policy despite the call to engage stakeholders further.
The GNCCI is the latest business group to have urged the GRA to pull the breaks on the CTN policy insisting that the move will increase cost of imports.
Full implementation of the CTN started on Monday [October 15, 2018] despite a lawsuit against the GRA by a concerned freight forwarder.
Addressing the media a day after the implementation of the Cargo Tracking Notes policy, the President of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce, Nana Dr. Appiagyei Dankawoso I said the GRA ought to allow for further engagements.
“The Chamber was engaged in the initial stages and we think that they could have done more for all to be on the same level before going ahead with the implementation of the CTN,” he said.
Again, he indicated the need for Ghana to get things done right as it has worked to persuade neighboring Burkina Faso and others to direct traffic through Ghana.
The Ghana Revenue Authority has insisted that the program is to track revenue from shipment to Ghana from across the world.
The latest statement has also exempted all importers whose imports are less than 36 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs).
As a result, it is anticipated that all cargo which were processed from October 15 from various ports of origin and headed to Ghana, within the next week or two, should bear the CTN number.
Meanwhile, Nana Dr. Appiagyei Dankawoso I believes addressing all teething issues will help in easing the cost of doing business in Ghana and improve the country’s ranking.
“The cost of doing business at the ports is still on the high side. The paperless system has come to save us on so many things in terms of speed and whatever. But the cost of duties and taxes at the ports are still on the high side. If you are clearing goods at the ports even at this time, there is a component dubbed miscellaneous and we ask ourselves what does it entail? All these things have to be looked at,” the President observed.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana